


Daughters of Charn

by AlphaStarwell



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Charn, Narnia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 14:38:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15196940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlphaStarwell/pseuds/AlphaStarwell
Summary: Jadis and her sister, Emeralas, are both in line for the throne on Charn... yet Emeralas is the favorite, and technically the first born. To what lengths will Jadis go, in order to become Queen oneday? The rating and the archive warnings may change as more of this story is written, since I'm unsure how it will go yet.





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 

“Come with me, children.”

 

Jadis and Emeralas Charn glanced up from their studies. They were twins, born only minutes apart, although Emeralas was considered the elder one since she had been born first. The girls were barely twelve years old and they each looked identical to one-another, although Emeralas had always had the prettier hair.

 

Emeralas had always been the favorite of their mother. There were many times when the woman would hum sweet melodies to the girl during their infancy, and she would constantly brush the favored girl’s scarlet hair, which was as deep of a red as the world’s dying sun, yet brighter. It wasn’t even an annoying shade of bright, but just the right shade of red to resemble an empowered flame.

 

Jadis, on the other hand, had ebony hair. Although it shone like a polished stone in any light, it didn’t have quite the flair as that of her sister.

 

Perhaps due to jealousy of their mother’s favor, Jadis hated her sister for her red hair. In her own way, she even hated humming or singing, partially because their mother never sang to  _ her _ but would always sing to Emeralas. It was for this reason that Jadis never even tried to sing, nor even whistle, and would never even touch a musical instrument.

 

“Who are you to command  _ us _ to follow you?” Jadis snapped indignantly, glaring at the slave who had apparently been sent to fetch them.

 

“Oh come now, Jadis,” Emeralas chided. “I reckon he’s just doing what he’s been told.”

 

Jadis stared hard at her sister for a moment and her thin, dark eyebrows rose marginally, aghast. “Did you not  _ hear _ the way he spoke to us? He is trying to  _ command _ us.  _ Us! _ ”

 

The slave began to look rather green around the gills, quickly realizing what his clumsy use of language may have earned him. One thing that the slaves knew when it came to working in the palace is that sometimes, the Royals ended up having to replace slaves within a few months. Some were killed for offenses such as cooking a meal just a tad too crisp, or for looking at their social betters the wrong way or even for spilling a drop of beverage upon a clean royal attire.

 

“I-I meant no disrespect, your Majesties,” the servant stammered, bowing low at the waist. He knew that if he valued his hide, he’d better do a fair bit of convincing grovelling. “Please, I’m just your humble slave. I was sent here by your father to r-request you to accompany me. He wants to see you.”

 

“Then where did you come off  _ telling _ us to come with you?” Jadis demanded, raising her chin. “Are you new here? Wherever you were before, this attitude  _ won’t _ be tolerated here.”

 

The slave bowed lower, which pleased Jadis’s ego… somewhat. In truth, the slave  _ was _ new, having been nothing but a commoner who worked on a farm before having his lands seized by nobles to whom his family owed a large debt. In order to pay the debt, the nobles had taken everything of value and sold the individuals within that tiny household into slavery.

 

“Please, forgive me,” the slave begged, now getting down on his hands and knees. He’d only been a slave for a week, but he had been coached enough by the other slaves, ones who’d managed to survive past their first month, how one needed to respond when making a vital mistake. This wasn’t even one of the minor noble houses, after all; this was the Palace, the House of Charn. He might’ve signed his own death warrant already.

 

“What an impetuous, undisciplined swine,” Jadis stated, revealing more of her precocious nature. In any commoner house, she would have no doubt been scolded or possibly put over her parents’ knee and given a good swat for her behavior. However, she was of royal blood, which meant that even a brief word from her lips to a nearby guard’s ear could have this poor soul’s head removed in seconds.

 

Just as long as she and her sister respected their father and anyone else of royal blood, they were free to do whatever they wished… particularly with the slaves. Their lives meant nothing anyway.

 

“Oh do be quiet, Jadis,” Emeralas snapped. “I happen to like him. Let him go back to his regular duties, we know where Father is at this time of day. We don’t need him to escort us.”

 

Jadis regarded her sister with a look as one would regard a sibling who’d picked up an icky, slimy creature on the side of the road and taken a protective liking to it. “Fine, just get out of my sight,” she told the slave, not even looking at him as though he were beneath contempt.

 

The slave got to his feet, yet for a moment he lingered. He knew that bad things were going to happen to him if he didn’t leave the room now, but he also feared what the King might do to him if he didn’t escort the children as instructed. Deciding to take his chances, he made a hasty retreat from the room without looking back, knowing that if anyone had a problem with anything he did, they wouldn’t even listen to his side of the story. He would be guilty no matter what.

 

“What, you looking for a pet slave or something?” Jadis snarked as she gathered up her books and put them into a neat pile before picking them up.

 

Emeralas frowned and shrugged. “I just don’t think it was worth getting  _ that _ upset over.”

 

“Not worth it?” Jadis looked enraged, clenching her fist at her side. “If we let the slaves get away with thinking  _ they _ can order  _ us _ around, they might start to think they’re our equals. They might even start to slack off on their work.”

 

“Come on, let’s just go to Father,” Emeralas stated, scooping up her own books. She knew it was useless to argue with her sister on these matters.

 

They moved swiftly down the hallways toward their Father’s study, where they knew he was attending to various matters at this time of day. At one point, Jadis muttered something about how their father should have done the proper thing and had a  _ guard _ escort them instead of a lowly slave, but Emeralas ignored it.

 

When they reached their father’s study, Jadis knocked. 

 

“Who wishes to enter?” came a deep voice from within.

 

“It is us, Jadis and Emeralas,” Jadis stated, raising her voice just enough to be heard through the door. 

 

“You may enter.”

 

The girls pushed the door open and walked inside, barely noticing as the door swung shut behind them. A pair of guards stood in the room, one in each corner of the room across from the door. They were quite still, but obviously alert.

 

They were no doubt a couple of their Father’s most trusted guards. While he was a very formidable magician, he didn’t trust anyone except the most loyal of people enough to turn his back on them for more than two seconds, as he was doing now.

 

“My children,” he addressed them as he motioned them to sit. There was very little warmth in his tone, yet his voice held a certain affection as one would use when addressing a pair of his most treasured and valued commodities. “I have grave news. Your mother is dead.”

 

He stated this news so matter-of-factly that one would have thought he was calmly discussing a business transaction that had gone awry.

 

For a long moment, the two children sat in shock as their young minds processed what they had just been told. Jadis remained cool and expressionless even as her sister’s face finally contorted, the tears started to stream down her cheeks.

 

The King of Charn’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, even as his bearded face maintained its stoic demeanor. The disappointment was evident in his tone when he spoke. “Child, this is not a time for grief. Dry your tears, do not let anyone see that you have wept.”

 

Emeralas pressed her lips into a thin line and swiped at her face with her sleeves, but she did glare up at her father. “She was my  _ mother, _ ” the girl exclaimed, her voice trembling. “H-how did she die? How could this have happened?”

 

Jadis remained completely still, a deep frown etched in her features but otherwise she shed no tears. Why should she? Their mother never paid  _ her _ much attention, and she’d always given Emeralas all of the nicer things. To some extent, Jadis had always favored her father, despite his ruthlessness. Even if he never showed any kind of warmth or caring toward either of his daughters, at least Jadis could always count on him treating them with equal callousness.

 

He’d even broken the  _ one _ nice thing her mother had even given her out of some semblance of kindness, or perhaps some guilt or pity. It had been a day about a year ago, when Jadis had shown some weakness for crying over some matter she didn’t even remember now. All she remembered was that her father had taken the toy and ripped it apart right in front of her, even as she’d tried to cling to it, even as she cried out for him to stop.

 

The only thing she’d gotten for her troubles was a good smack across the face, and then her father had used magic to obliterate the remains of the doll. Ever since that time, Jadis had allowed her heart to grow hard and cold, feeling more and more she should follow her father’s example rather than her mother’s.

 

“It was done by an assassin,” the King stated. “I have personally dealt with any guards who were on duty in close proximity to her. It took only a brief time in the torture chambers to get them to reveal that they had been bribed, and I had them executed immediately.” He stood, his tall form towering over them. “I must leave at once, as I wish to personally deal with the House that is responsible for murdering my Queen.” Once again, he didn’t speak of his family member as a person, but as one would refer to a prized dragon, or perhaps a valuable vase that had been broken and could not be replaced.

 

“When I am through with them, every member of their House and all of their extended family, friends, even their acquaintances and their slaves will be slaughtered,” the King continued. “While I am gone, I want both of you to continue your studies. You are all that remains of the Charn family line, my children, and oneday…” He looked directly into Emeralas’s eyes. “One of you will be Queen.”

 

For a brief moment, Jadis’s heart froze into ice. Then at least part of it broke, shattered into crystalized splinters. 

 

Even though  _ she _ had done her best to model herself and her conduct after her father, particularly after her mother showed preference for her sister…  _ he _ favored Emeralas  _ too?! _ Jadis’s hands clenched tightly at her sides, even as she tried to keep the growing, boiling rage in her chest off of her schooled features.

 

What had Emeralas  _ ever _ done to deserve so much? First Mother’s favor, now she was apparently Father’s first choice as the next ruler of the world. Even if the King hadn’t said  _ anything _ of the sort aloud, all it took was seeing the way he looked at  _ her _ to know who his first choice was.

 

If Mother had had her way, she probably would have done her best to make sure Emeralas was the first in line to be the next ruler, even if a son had been born. Perhaps that was part of the issue here; the Queen had been the King’s  _ one _ soft spot, and maybe… just maybe, it was because of her and some dying wish that Emeralas be the next ruler.

 

Of course… the reason could also be that Emeralas had the exact same hair color as their mother, unlike Jadis… combined with the fact that Emeralas was technically the oldest.

 

A sick pleasure welled up in Jadis’s chest when she had the satisfaction of seeing the King give Emeralas a mild smack across the face, punishment for starting to blubber again. Jadis couldn’t quite keep the cruel smile from spreading across her lips as their father said, “Damn you, foolish girl. I have allowed your mother to make you soft.” He sighed with heavy disappointment and some frustration. “We will need to deal with this, once I return.”

 

With that, he left the room without a second glance at Jadis, yet not before shooting Emeralas one last, withering look. He didn’t even bother to dismiss the girls, but they knew the meeting with their father was over.

 

Jadis regarded her sister as the other girl continued to weep, now sobbing into her own hands in the relative privacy of the room. The guards continued to stand motionless in their corners, but they paid no heed to the actions or emotions of the young, royal children. They might as well have been statues and were easily forgotten, like a couple of suits of armor. 

 

From this moment on, Jadis would consider this a competition. She  _ would _ earn her father’s favor, she  _ would _ prove that she could be the better ruler, she  _ would _ be Queen someday. It just wasn’t right or fair for Emeralas to have everything, just like that. Jadis deserved to have a chance, and she deserved to have it  _ all. _

 

_ I am going to rule Charn when I grow up, _ Jadis vowed internally.  _ If I can’t have Charn, no-one can. I’ll see to that! _


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 

Jadis gazed in her full-length mirror several moments longer than would be necessary if one simply wanted to make certain one looked presentable. Today was her thirteenth birthday and, while she would never admit it aloud, she had grown into a very vain young lady.

 

She refused to acknowledge in any way whatsoever that today was her sister’s birthday as well. She despised Emeralas and a birthday was something she refused to share with the other girl, particularly since they had been at odds with each other for a long time.

 

Jadis still considered herself to be in a fierce competition with Emeralas. Both of the girls had received equal opportunities for the best education in magic, literature, history, arithmetic and all forms of self defense and combat styles.

 

Throughout all of the training sessions over recent years, Jadis had proven herself to be the best. She had been complimented many times by her teachers as having the quickest reflexes and the most graceful and precise movements, plus she  _ always _ caught on quickly whenever she was taught something new and even adjusted new tactics to fit her own style. 

 

The only thing that sometimes shocked her instructors was her fierceness and brutality. They commended her on the way she was willing to fight to the bitter end, to the point where the girl would find a way to gain the upper hand even when she was about to lose a sparring match. However, they were more than a little unnerved when she nearly killed one of her own teachers.

 

The instructor would live, but he would never be able to use his left arm quite as well again.

 

Jadis had been given many nice things for her birthday, things which someone of her rank often felt more entitled to than humbly and graciously accepting them. Some of the gifts were offerings from the common folk, which she considered little more than trash, particularly next to the far finer things that the Nobles, Lords, and particularly her own father could give her. 

 

Besides… what were the commoners doing offering such petty and insignificant gifts to members of the House of Charn anyway? The very best that they had wouldn’t even be good enough for her sister’s dog.

 

Right now, she was adorned in expensive, shimmering jewels that even some Nobles would count themselves very lucky just to get a  _ glimpse _ of, and she wore a scarlet gown that fit around her perfect figure tastefully. A shawl made of the finest silk graced her back and shoulders, amplifying the beauty of her new attire.

 

_ I already look like a Queen, _ she thought. The mirror in front of her was just a little taller than her; while she knew she would outgrow it eventually once she grew taller, for now it was perfect. With her family’s wealth, it could easily be discarded and replaced in a year or two anyway. 

 

She also felt that the golden frame of the mirror, encrusted with brilliant diamonds, made her image look far more divine. This was the image of a Queen, perhaps even a goddess. What she saw before her now was not something that could be captured or recreated even by the best of artists.

 

Yet, despite of everything that she had accomplished… Emeralas was still the favorite and the first one in line to be the next ruler.

 

At one point recently, Jadis had even been bold enough to confront her father in private, where she demanded to know  _ why _ Emeralas was the first choice when clearly, Jadis was better at everything. She was the fiercer warrior, she remembered far more of her lessons from her studies than Emeralas ever did, and Emeralas had proven time and again that she was so  _ soft. _

 

It was to the great surprise and fury of Jadis that her father told her that Emeralas was not only the eldest, but that she held the better qualities of a future ruler. It seemed that the King didn’t necessarily like Emeralas’s softer side and still felt she needed to be toughened up some, but he also felt there was still plenty of time for the girl to grow into the woman she was meant to be. He said there was still some room for children to be children… within reason. She just needed time.

 

Jadis had been enraged by that response. Here  _ she _ was, everything that a fierce warrior Princess was supposed to be, and yet softer and dumber Emeralas was still the chosen one. When Jadis had pushed the issue a little further, demanding to know if this choice had something to do with Mother’s preference and some foolish sentimentality toward the dead woman, Jadis had only earned herself a solid cuff across the head and been sent away.

 

It had taken the rest of the evening and some soft pillows and a couple of good tonics to take care of her headache afterward. Father was quite strong and could really make one’s brains rattle when he wanted to.

 

As Jadis turned herself this way and that in front of the mirror, her cloak swirling majestically as she did so, she felt that she would just need to keep doing better and better. One day, everyone would see that  _ she _ was the best choice for Queen, including the King.

 

The quietness in her room somehow seemed to grow more profound as she turned away from the mirror and sat upon a chair, trying on three different pairs of elegant shoes. Her mind seemed to grow more quiet as well, less filled with the clutter of her studies and the constant feelings of anger and jealousy toward her sister.

 

After she had discarded the shoes and went to her closet to find another pair that would actually match her new gown, she thought briefly of summoning a servant to aid her. Surely she didn’t  _ need _ to waste so much time searching through her own things when someone else could do it for her, and even put the shoes on her feet while she sat comfortably. Yet for some reason, today anyway, she felt like being a little more independent, she supposed. This was  _ her _ new gown, she was working on her  _ own _ appearance, and… perhaps for once, she wanted to  _ own _ the entire experience and effort.

 

When she finally found a pair of shoes that looked promising, she sat upon the edge of her bed and held onto the platinum frame with one hand while she fought with the shoe with her other hand.  _ Great, _ she thought as she clenched her teeth. She finally found one pair of shoes that might match perfectly, and they had to be the ones that she had outgrown a bit. 

 

That’s when she began to make a mental list of everyone she could blame for her displeasure, including the primary servant who regularly made her bed and cleaned her room. Any shoes she had outgrown were supposed to be removed regularly, surely. Yes, this was somehow the servant’s fault.

 

She considered the idea of ordering someone to go and find her a pair of shoes identical to this one in a slightly larger size, but would there be time for that? The banquet was going to begin soon. It simply wouldn’t do if she were to appear late, especially if Emeralas appeared early or on top. She didn’t need to give her sister  _ another _ excuse as to why she was supposedly better, even if it wasn’t true.

 

Just as she finally settled on a decent pair of shoes that fit perfectly, even if they weren’t the perfect shade of scarlet (though the rubies on the toes were an excellent touch), she thought she heard something in her room.

 

Instantly alert, she glanced up sharply. She was ready to attack and equally ready to call for the nearest guard to have any intruder who might be here hauled off to the dungeon once she disabled them.

 

However, even though she could still sense a presence of some sort, she couldn’t detect anything tangible. Her curtains moved slightly as though a soft, gentle breeze was disturbing them a little, yet neither her window nor her door were currently open. Her room was also far from drafty, unlike some of the servant’s quarters or the dungeon, so… what was this?

 

When she listened hard, to the point where she held her breath and concentrated very hard to hear it, she realized it sounded like someone was breathing. It was not ragged breathing, nor was it loud at all; it held a rhythm that was very calm and steady.

 

“Who is there?” she demanded, looking hard in the direction the breath seemed to be coming from. Judging from the slight disturbance of her curtains, the intruder should have been just on the other side of the room. Yet there appeared to be nothing there.

 

She knew better than to trust her mere eyes, though. There were certain magicks that could obscure someone from normal vision.

 

“If you don’t reveal yourself I  _ will _ obliterate you!” she shouted. “Who are you and how did you get in here?”

 

Finally, even if she didn’t  _ see _ anything still, she heard a low voice speak that seemed to make the air surrounding her vibrate slightly. It even seemed to make the floor tremble a tad in response to its speaking, perhaps even its mere presence.

 

“I have always been here,” the deep voice was saying. “It is  you who stopped noticing  me .”

 

Jadis froze, her eyes darting about the room as she tried to pinpoint the owner of the voice. Yet somehow… it seemed to be coming from all around her, not one specific spot. She realized that she must have been dealing with a very powerful, and a very clever magician. “Explain yourself!” she demanded. “Have you come to assassinate me?”

 

“I have come to speak to you, Jadis Charn. I have been speaking to you every day for a long time.”

 

“You have been in here all this time?” Jadis said, aghast. “Why haven’t I heard you or seen you before?”

 

“You have neither seen nor spoken to me since you turned seven years old,” the voice told her. Somehow, it sounded like it regretted that fact far more than she or anyone else ever could. “It is only today that you finally sat still and quieted your mind enough to start noticing me, at least just a little. It was enough for you to notice me a little more.”

 

She slowly sank back onto the edge of her bed, staring dumbfounded at the one spot where she imagined this stranger’s physical presence might be… if it even had one. “S-seven?” she finally said, trying to think. “What do you mean, you stopped talking to me when I was seven?”

 

“It was you who stopped talking to me,” the voice insisted. “In my case, believing is seeing.”

 

Jadis narrowed her eyes. After processing that for a moment, she deduced that this must have been some kind of magic that involved… believing, perhaps in an almost childlike way? 

 

It had been so long. Her mind had developed so much since those days, becoming more advanced and more filled with the ways of the world, the information from her studies, the experiences she had gained, not to mention her own ambition and desires. It was very, very difficult to even  _ try _ thinking with the simple mind of a very small child at this point.

 

Under normal circumstances, who would even want to try? There was no point in it and she was a far better and more capable person now. She was no longer the helpless, naive and ignorant little thing she had been way back then.

 

Yet for the sake of trying to  _ see _ the mysterious intruder within her room… she would try, just this once.

 

When she tried, she found her mind wandering back to an old, old memory she had forgotten long ago. At first it was very vague, but somehow as she focused upon it… it became sharper, until she remembered almost all of it with a newfound clarity.

 

She remembered long ago, during a time when she was alone in her room, she had felt more lonely than she ever had in her life. She must have been about four or five and it was a time when her sister had fallen ill, the first time that Emeralas had earned the full attention of their mother.

 

Jadis had been all alone in her room, for her mother was too occupied with her sister and her father was very busy with the affairs of state. During that time, she had desperately cried out with her heart for someone, anyone, who cared for her enough to hold her, to make her feel  _ someone _ out there actually cared about her.

 

At that time, someone had responded. She couldn’t even remember what he looked like, only that his clothing was warm and velvet soft, he had held her in his arms as comfortingly as a caring father would, and she just remembered his voice.

 

In spite of herself, she felt a warm fuzzy feeling welling up inside of her, at least enough to thaw her cold and rigid heart out just for a moment as those childhood memories returned to her.

 

“Do you know me?” the voice inquired.

 

“I… did once,” she admitted in a voice barely above a whisper. “Who are you?”


End file.
